The comb on the top of Bryan's helmetwas to protect his head from falling building material. Between the warsstronger, lighter cork helmets replaced the old brass style,but the comb shape stayed because it still worked.

Bryan Cooke

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Bryan Cooke

Bryan joined Croydon Fire Brigade in 1961:

"I can remember the first daybecause I was so excited about itand not a lot happened;a false alarm,someone stuck in a lift.

The bread and butter stuff,the one room fire,the pan of fat,the oil heater,they were quite regular then,and loads of chimney fires.It was quite a busy period.

There was a lot of derelict buildings in Croydon,they were like tinderboxes,and sometimes there'd be tramps asleep in them.The worst part of the job is when you've got people that have died in a fire and other people have come out and they're still looking for them.

But we used to get all sorts.You might get a prank where someone's getting married, and someone'll call you and you get there and he's handcuffed naked to a parking meter. And this bloke's all embarrassed and you say, 'Sorry mate, we can't help you', and you make as though you're going to go off. We have a few laughs."

Fighting London's fires

When Bryan became a fire fighter in 1961, Croydon had its own Brigade.His first experiences were local.

The Greater London Council (GLC) was created in 1965. It took control of fire fighting in London. The London Fire Brigade expanded to fit the borders of the GLC.Bryan could now be called out to big fires as far away as north London. His helmet was painted yellow so that his uniform would match!

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I Am Here

This sound clip was created during the
I Am Here project. The group of 14-24
year olds selected objects close to their
heart that also said something about identity.

I Am Here is part of Stories of the World,
one of the major projects at the heart of the
London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

"My name's Dammir, I'm 16 I live in Croydon and I am doing a project called I Am Here.

Oh, I picked the helmet because I like to be safe and it reminded me of being safe and the fact that a helmet could represent quite a lot of things. For instance the shape is a cone shape, so, like, there are many animals or bugs that have a cone shape as a house and it just mainly just different little elements that add to it, that's the reason why I chose it.

The helmet was a fire helmet, I had the name, I think his name was Sam. It is tattered, but, it saved his life on numerous of times. Another reason why I chose it because man made things that could hurt and then made things that could save, it just contradicted itself basically. And I like that concept.

Would I become a fire fighter? YES! NO! Don't know! No I wouldn't. Most likely because it's too demanding really, like, I am kind of a laid back person and I feel that it probably take too much out of me, I don't know, that sounds kind of selfish, but I wouldn't really become a fire fighter. There are good things about being a fire fighter because, like, you get self achievements. You feel happy inside after what you've done, you save lives at the end of the day. You save lives, you save communities, you help

people, you help cats from trees. It just a demanding job really and its 24 hours and you have to be on call every single day. Because you never know what going to happen, you never know.

Like, I would like to have a job its justset times you know not random what so ever, I can't have that, its too much. Like, maybe when I am older I might become a fire fighter, reasons being like you know, what else have you got to do, might as well become a fire fighter or truck driver, but I prefer a fire fighter also I get to wear the helmet (chuckles) the helmet that I like. Yeah, but right now I won't become a fire fighter because I rather do engineering or media, like, its pretty good stuff you know, engineering, media and then later on maybe it I lose those like that motivation, the drive me on,

I would become a fire fighter in Croydon, probably see me driving around in a fire truck, wearing my helmet, you know, I might even save you one day! This podcast will help you, you know, to remember my name. Yeah, so that's the reason why I might or might not become a fire fighter, you know, you just never know, the world's too small!"